George M. Pullman (1831-97) opened an industrial complex in 1881 to build railroad passenger and freight cars and a town to house its workers near Lake Calumet, about sixteen miles south of the loop. Architect Solon S. Beman (1853-1914) and landscape architect Nathan F. Barrett (1845-1919) designed the factory buildings and grounds to be both utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing, in keeping with Pullman’s belief that environment was a crucial force in shaping workers’ character. The photograph shows the Clock Tower Administration Building and factory structures. Pullman's manufacturing operations later moved to new industrial structures east of the original shops and it decommissioned these buildings in 1943. Pullman-Standard continued to manufacture cars in Pullman until it ceased operations in 1981. The State of Illinois purchased the 12.66-acre tower building and factory site and Pullman's Hotel Florence in 1991. In December of 1998, the tower building and south factory wing were destroyed by an arson fire. The south factory wing was demolished and the Clock Tower Administration Building shell reconstructed in 2002-2005. Today, the factory site and Hotel Florence are administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the Pullman State Historic Site. Next in series.

The Detroit Publishing Company distributed this image. Its superintendent at the time was William Henry Jackson, a noted photographer with a railroad speciality. The Detroit Publishing Company, however, distributed photographs by many non-company photographers. In that era, it was not common to credit individual photographers.